Voluntary Sector: Charity PROs safe for now

The UK's biggest charities are resisting pressure to make comms staff
redundant as the credit crunch potentially hits their funding.

Last week, Scope made staff including external director of affairs
Stephen Bowen and director of campaigns Andy James redundant, blaming
the credit crunch (PRWeek, 10 October). The charity has also refused to
rule out further redundancies in the comms department.

But this week, nine of the ten biggest charities insisted they had no
plans to follow suit, despite mounting financial pressures.

PRWeek contacted the ten largest charities by fee income and profile.
Only the NSPCC could not guarantee comms jobs. Head of media Gerry
Tissier said the organisation was reviewing its costs and that this
could include redundancies. But the charity still expects to see an
increase in its (comms) budget next year. Trustees will make any such
decisions in November.

The British Red Cross, Action for Children, the National Trust,
Barnardo's, Mencap, the British Heart Foundation, Oxfam, Cancer Research
UK and Save The Children all said they were not expecting to make staff
redundant in the comms department in the next six months.

However, charity comms directors did not underestimate the potential
impact of the financial crisis, with most looking at ways to cut
costs.

Oxfam, for example, is cutting 10 per cent of its 'variable costs',
which could include redundancies - but head of media Amy Barry said
these would not come from the comms department.

The Charity Commission's head of news Sarah Miller said: 'Charities
should be aware of how important communication is when they are
experiencing any financial difficulty. Internal and external comms need
to be consistent and honest.'

The National Trust's head of comms Andrew McLaughlin agreed:
'Communication is doubly important in a time like this. We need to
continue to get the message out about why the public should support
us.'

Mencap's PR manager Sam Heath warned organisations to demonstrate the
worth of having a well-staffed comms team. 'It may be considered an
unnecessary expenditure if you haven't made a strong enough case,' he
said.